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EZ430-CHRONOS: ez430 Chronos watch with many RF dongles. Keyfob entry for home and car.

Krzysztof Krzysztof
Prodigy 35 points
Part Number: EZ430-CHRONOS
Other Parts Discussed in Thread: CC1111EMK868-915

Hello

I know ez430 chronos is a little old project, but I wanto to implement it in my house and my car.
 It will be used as wirelles entry keyfob and lights controller. So for this job I need one ez430 chronos watch and a few dongles.
 The ez430 chronos comes with only one dongle so can I make my own and duplicate software on it?

I managed to find in documentation that I will need another CC1111F32RSP microcontroller with RF balun (868MHz) - is that correct? The same microcontroller can be found in CC1111EMK868-915 dev kit, and will it also work?

The question is, can I duplicate the software from my original ez430 chronos dongle to its clones? And if it will work?

Best regards

Krzysztof

  • 0
    TI__Genius 10980 points
    Hi Krzysztof,

    If you duplicate the hardware, then the same software should work for the dongles. CC1111EMK868-915 dev kit should work as well.

    Regards,
    Nathan
  • 0 in reply to Nathan Siegel
    Prodigy 35 points
    Hi Nathan

    Thank you for your reply.
    Comparing this to two chronos versions, the black (PCB) dongles are easier to made than white ones due to only one chip (and balun).
    In black there is only one chip CC1111F32RSP.
    In white version RF dongle has two chips MSP430F5509IRGZ (MCU) and CC1101RTKR (RF).
    And CC1111EMK868-915 dev kit also is equipped with blacy pbc chip - and that's simple.
    Am I correct?

    Best Regards
    Krzysztof

    P.S.
    Why even TI make a second white version that is more complicated to duplicate (RF dongle)? I thought that there will be the same MSP chip in dongle and watch - but they are different.
  • 0 in reply to Krzysztof Krzysztof
    TI__Genius 10980 points

    Hi Krzysztof,

    The different dongles use different chips. One contains a wireless MCU, but the other one contains just a wireless transceiver, which therefore requires an MCU. The reason likely stems from a difference in the wireless devices, such as the frequencies supported.

    Regards,
    Nathan

  • 0 in reply to Nathan Siegel
    Prodigy 35 points

    Hi and thank you very much Nathan

    I have an idea that my work and that I could buy more chronos watches with white PCBs.

    First of all, the plan is:

    - buy one watch (old version) for example 915 MHz

    - buy few watches (new version) also for 915 MHz 

    There is my question, can I communicate white PCB watch with black PCB RF USB dongle?

    And similarly, can I communicate black PCB watch with white pcb rf USB dongle.

    ------------------------------

    Or I think the best way will be to buy two white PCBs chronos devices. Then I have two RF USB dongles (the same frequency) one in house, other one in my car. And going around with white PCB watch on my wrist I can control things in both of them (not at the same time of course).

    Also in this solution I wouldn't have to buy separate MCUs and probably damage them by wrong soldering ;)

    Best regards

    Krzysztof

     

  • 0 in reply to Krzysztof Krzysztof
    TI__Genius 10980 points
    Hi Krzysztof,

    As long as the watch and dongle are both configured for the same frequency and the correct code is used, yes, you should be able to communicate.

    Regards,
    Nathan